Chapter 98: Final
d.a.m.n! Feng Nian"s Master must be a really capable man!
I ignored Feng Nian"s interrogation and just said indifferently, "It"s nothing. Just old trouble. Anyways, wait here a bit." After saying that, I took the tissue and stuffed my nostrils.
Back when I first developed the Small Thumb Sword Qi, little did I expect that it would have such a strong side effect. As of now, my condition would worsen every time I used this technique. Zhang Zixuan himself also warned me last time that even he had no a.s.surance of being able to cure my illness if I were to use this technique again. But the reality of my situation did not allow me to think about it anymore. I was forced to use it.
It was because I would be out of chances if I didn"t!
After stuffing my nose, I smiled at her and said, "Anyways, Miss Feng, I still have a fight in four hours, so I need to adjust my condition first. Let"s talk again after the match."
"Ah, alright, then. I forgot you"ve gotta refuel yourself, Sloppy." Feng Nian replied with a joke with a smiling face.
"Yeah, I know that," I replied to her while waving and searching for a quiet place.
After finding a quiet spot, I quickly hunkered on the ground, sitting cross-legged and silently restoring my True Qi.
I just spent all of my Inner Force and four hours were only enough to restore 20% of it! However, it did not matter. As long as I could see my opponent, I could use the flaming hand for about 10 minutes with 20% of Inner Force but without shooting the flame out. But then again, my next opponent would also be spent and not be at his peak either.
As for True Qi, four hours was enough to fully restore it. In reality, I really shouldn"t do it, but still… I would still need to use Small Thumb Sword Qi! I had reached a quarter-final so I must not lose this opportunity!
After sitting cross-legged for more than 3 hours, my True Qi was finally restored. Then I stood up and looked at the match draw for the finals. It turned out that Gorilla just b.u.mped into a tragedy! His opponent in the quarter-final turned out to be Liu Mengyan! At this moment, he was sitting nearby with a face that looked like he just had his parents pa.s.s away. I then came over toward him with all smiling face, "Congrats, Brother Tang. You just made it to the top 8!"
"Congratulations my a.s.s!" Tang Zhilong replied with a vexed face. "It"s just like f.u.c.king last time. I got into the top 8 and ran into Liu Mengyan… s.h.i.t… I won"t get into the top three and get a quota."
"Yo, Gorilla, you can"t just throw in the towel like that!" I sternly berated to him, "We are men with indomitable spirit! How come your b.a.l.l.s shrink just because of a lady?"
"Hmph, don"t think I don"t know what you"re scheming in your head, punk!" Tang Zhilong shot a glare at me, "If you enter the top 4, then you"re gonna face the winner from me and Liu Mengyan"s match. Simply speaking, you will run into her so you want me to make her spend her strength, so the odds you"ll win will be bigger, no? Now I tell you, mate. It… WON"T… happen! Besides, Liu Mengyan can still easily beat you even if she"s ridden with injuries!"
Well, what could I say? Gorilla was no fool either. He could see through my scheme at once. I pretended to sigh and said, "Haih, you misunderstood me, Gorilla! I don"t think I can get into the top 4. I spoke like that because I wanna cheer you on!"
"Bah. You"re fake. Too fake, you know that?" Tang Zhilong shook his head and said, "Anyways, you did it with a kind of bang and created a commotion, mate. I saw everything. Never did I expect a punk like you still had such a card up your sleeve. You really hid it well, even the ring was blown up with such a big pit. That"s seriously awesome."
"All in all, just cheer up and buck up!" I patted his shoulder.
"Eh? That"s right, mate. I just saw you together with that person… umm… who was it again? Feng… Feng… that"s right, Feng Nian! Do you know her?"
"Huh? You also know Feng Nian?"
"Who the h.e.l.l doesn"t know her here, kiddo? She"s the only disciple of Senior "Magistrate" here. She"s like, the Pearl of the Phantasm Rain Pavilion, the Beloved Belle!"
"Really? I don"t know her that well, though." Then I said sternly, "Anyways, your game is about to begin, Gorilla. C"mon. I"m cheering for you!"
Eleven o"clock, a quarter-final for the top 4.
Saying it as luck or coincidence, my opponent turned out to be the first person I met when I came to the Phantasm Rain Pavilion. He was one of those two disciples who guarded the defensive array. Speaking about even more of a coincidence, this guy was also using flying swords now! His ability was manipulating flying swords, or more precisely a Metal bending art of one of the Five Elements. And today, he had two swords on his back.
The last time I met him, he almost killed me. But after more than 3 months of grueling inhuman exercise, I was no longer a green rookie anymore. I had been progressing by leaps and bounds qualitatively in all areas. Now I wondered whether I could win against him this time.
In any case, though, I must still pa.s.s this hurdle and hold the line no matter what! I must get into the top 4, then to the top 2 where I would face either Gorilla or Liu Mengyan. But no matter what, I cannot stop before I get to the peak. I must win the top 2 places and only then could I get out of this place!
I jumped to the ring and cupped my fists over to him as a salute. Gorilla just told me that this guy"s name was Jin Peng.
The bell then sounded, initiating the start of our match.
This guy did not waste any time with nonsense. His finger pointed toward the two swords in the scabbards on his back as they slowly started hovering around his body and shot forward to stab me!
I jumped to the air, kicked the sword"s hilt and sent it flying out as I dashed to his side!
Who would expect that he turned out to have an extreme reaction speed too? The other sword that hovered around his body then shot at me very fast as he shouted, "Three Shooting Stars—Spinning Sword!"
That was the technique he used before! I saw the sword quickly spin up and flash toward my shoulder! At the same time, the sword I just kicked flew back as the two then worked in tandem to form a formation.
His momentum was blasting! Bursts of cheers could be heard coming from under the stage! Of course, these cheers were meant for Jin Peng.
But in these three months, I went through a lot of fighting. The crisis I had gone through had tempered me to keep my calm in this hour of peril. I used one of my hands to support my body and rolled over, avoiding the two swords at a very subtle angle, after which, I raised my hand and shot a spray of flame to Jin Peng"s face.
As expected, Jin Peng subconsciously covered his eyes.
With him losing his sight temporarily, he would not be able to manipulate the flying swords, so I took a dash and rushed toward him! At the same time, my right hand instantly turned ablaze as I dashed forward to grab his clothes! His clothes were very thick and he would be sure to be in trouble if it got burned.
When he recovered, I was already less than two meters away from him! He abruptly retreated to the side while his hand created a hand seal as he shouted, "Three Shooting Stars—Dancing Swords!
I could hear piercing swishing sounds behind my back and subconsciously bent down! Two swords flew past and rubbed my shoulders! The swords kept flying to Jin Peng as he grabbed them and slashed my chest!
Since killing the opponent in the compet.i.tion was forbidden, he attacked the area around my shoulders. Even if he used the sword with a sweeping move, he wouldn"t dare to slash my throat.
I swiftly retracted back and avoided his sweeping slash while at the same time doing some quick a.n.a.lysis. He let out a shout and his swords suddenly cleaved while its speed abruptly accelerated several times faster. This Metal bending technique sure was really uncanny. He was able to manipulate flying swords, and yet, still able to perform much more subtle actions…
Those who could get into the top 8 were really something. They were not easy to deal with! I thought my plan would go smoothly, yet he was still able to maintain his distance.
With the movement of his hands, Jin Peng"s swords floated again. He made a hand seal again and shouted, "Three Shooting Stars—Dancing Swords!"
Seven minutes pa.s.sed by.
A dozen slash marks had been drawn all over my body. Fortunately, the wounds were shallow. But I was also able to burn Jin Peng"s upper clothes and hit one of his eyes black and blue.
I had also spent my Inner Force already. It wouldn"t go well if the situation kept continuing like this. I must quickly conclude this fight. My wounds were probably shallow, but the strenuous movement would affect them and blood would continue flowing out. Then, a crazy idea began to take form inside my mind, yet again.
Should I use the Small Thumb Sword Qi again? Or else, the longer I drag this on, more mishaps will happen!
I have to win this match! I will get a quota if I win this!
And again, I directed my True Qi into my lungs and compressed it there.
After stowing it for 10 seconds, blood began gushing out from my nose… I kept holding it up to 35 seconds as my sight began to blur and dizziness tried to overcome me! I had reached my limit!
But what exactly went wrong? I was still able to hold it up for 37 seconds last time… Yet, now I got dizzy a couple seconds earlier?
Just as I began to feel dizzy, a sword stabbed my shoulder! I didn"t even try to dodge it! Then another stab came from behind and pierced the right side of my back! Under the heart-rending pain, I stretched out my thumb and aimed at the stage 3 meters away from Jin Peng.
"BOOM!"
Because Jin Peng stood at the edge of the ring, the blast directly sent him flying out of the ring!
The explosion splashed a lot of rubbles and drew curses from the onlookers in the surroundings while dodging them. There were a few of them hitting me too, but I forgot to even dodge because I felt dizzy and cold all over. The scene before me turned blurry. Could it be… that… I just lost too much blood?
Regardless, I managed to get into the top 4, somehow! There was only one match left and then I would get one quota!
At this time, on the viewing stands…
It was unknown when Ma Jun appeared there. He looked slightly interested and spoke, "That was a very powerful move. Can you guess how he got that ability and how far he can go?"
"I can deduce how he did that. But the side effect and the aftermath are rather strong." Feng Nian"s Master said, "Just look at that boy. He looks very pale. I guess he will quit at this round and I don"t think he has the hope to get into the top 2. In fact, his strength is only mediocre. The reason why he can win was that his technique is too fast, coupled with its too strong explosive force, hence his opponents weren"t able to guard against it."
After the examination from Sun Yongfu, I was declared as a winner again. Feng Nian came running toward me as a pill suddenly appeared out of thin air in her hand, "Sloppy, take this."
"What is this?" I looked at her and she was like a pair of shadows.
"Master told me, your technique is very strong but so is the side effect, and this is a pill to stop bleeding. Do you know you bleed a lot, don"t you? You look very pale now!"
I took the pill in her hand and said weakly, "Thank you. I"m going to meditate over there. Please don"t disturb me. I still have another match to fight." After saying that, I threw the pill into my mouth and chewed it twice and went to a quiet spot.
I could directly win one of the three spots if I won the semifinal. But if I lost, I would be directly eliminated and had to fight for another round to decide the winner for the third spot. However, my physical condition could only last for one match, so I must win this fight, no matter what the cost! It would directly get me one quota! Otherwise, I wouldn"t have another chance…